DECORATED Iraq war veteran and former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle was shot dead at a Central Texas gun range, but just who was the man nicknamed The Devil?

The 38 year-old author of American Sniper was one of two men shot dead at point blank at Creek Lodge's shooting range in Texas. The second victim was identified as 35-year-old Chad Littlefield of Midlothian, Texas. Former marine Eddie Ray Routh, 25, of Lancaster has been arraigned on two counts of capital murder.

From cowboy to lethal sniper

The Dallas Morning News said Kyle grew up in Texas and spent much of his time riding horses and participating on the school rodeo team. The Star Telegram said he tried to join the Navy in 1996 but was rejected after a physical exam showed pins in his arm from a rodeo injury. Three years later, he was working on a ranch in Colorado when the Navy called and wanted to train him as a sniper.

Kyle wrote in his book American Sniper that he killed 150 insurgents over ten years.

"When I grew up, I only had two dreams," he told the newspaper about a year ago. "One was to be a cowboy and another was to be in the military. I grew up extremely patriotic," he said.

"By the time I was 24, I decided it was time to go into the military and try it out. It wasn't exactly the SEALs I was looking for at the time. I just wanted to go into the military and be the best."

Kyle enlisted in the Navy in February 1999 and was discharged on November 2009, military records show. During that time, he served four tours in Iraq and received 14 different awards and decorations, including two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars with Valor, and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.

"I didn't do it for the money or the awards. I did it because I felt like it was something that needed to be done and it was honorable. I loved the guys," Kyle told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 2012.

US veteran Eddie Ray Routh, has been charged with the murders of Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield. Picture: AP

Kyle's best-selling book - subtitled The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History - published in January 2012 detailed his 150-plus kills of Iraqi insurgents during that decade.

In the book Kyle said that insurgents had put a $20,000 bounty on his head. The website for his security training company said the Iraqis feared him so much they nicknamed him al-Shaitan, or 'The Devil.'

Kyle said most of his sniper shots ranged from 180 metres to 1,100 metres, but that his longest kill was 1.9 kilometres - taking out an insurgent aiming a rocket launcher at an approaching Army convoy.

Kyle said it was a credit to the technology of his ballistic computer. "I set it up, I pulled the trigger and the guy went down," he said on Conan O'Brien's TV talk show in February 2012.

The former Navy SEAL told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly in January 2012 that he had no regrets about the people he shot. He said he viewed his Iraqi victims as savages and didn't think of them as human beings.

"They live by putting fear into other people's hearts and civilized people just don't act that way," he said.

Asked by O'Reilly if he himself had any post-traumatic stress disorder issues, Kyle said, "None of my problems come from the people I've killed."

Kyle was sued by former wrestler turned Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura over a portion of his book that claims Kyle punched Mr Ventura in a 2006 bar fight over unpatriotic remarks. Mr Ventura says the punch never happened and that the claim by Kyle defamed him.

Kyle had asked that Mr Ventura's claims of invasion of privacy and "unjust enrichment" be dismissed, saying there was no legal basis for them. But a federal judge said the lawsuit should proceed. Both sides were told to be ready for trial by August 1.

Life outside the headlines

He created a security training company, Craft International, after his discharge from the Navy. A civilian training event had been scheduled at Rough Creek Lodge - where he was killed - for the first weekend in March

Outside of his military career, he was married to Taya Kyle and had two children.

Kyle had also established a nonprofit, FITCO Cares, which provides at-home fitness equipment for emotionally and physically wounded veterans.

After news of his death broke, the organization's website read, "The Loss of a Hero," and said the foundation "will always carry the torch" for the military men and women.

A news release from Travis Cox, a director of FITCO Cares, said Kyle tried to assist other veterans struggling with their demons.

"What I know is Chris and a gentleman - great guy, I knew him well, Chad Littlefield - took a veteran out shooting who was struggling with PTSD to try to assist him, try to help him, try to, you know, give him a helping hand and he turned the gun on both of them, killing them," Mr Cox said.

Littlefield was Kyle's neighbour and "workout buddy," Cox said.

"Chris was literally the type of guy if you were a veteran and needed help he'd help you," Mr Cox said. "And from my understanding that's what happened here. I don't know how he came in contact with this gentleman, but I do know that it was not through the foundation.

"It was just two great guys with Chad and Chris trying to help out a veteran in need and making time out of their day to help him. And to give him a hand. And unfortunately this thing happened."

"Chris died doing what he filled his heart with passion - serving soldiers struggling with the fight to overcome PTSD," Mr Cox said. "He will be forever missed."

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